SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – In some parts of the country, large numbers of health workers have rejected the COVID-19 vaccine, raising concerns about the introduction and prospect of vaccine hesitation.
In San Diego County, however, the available data indicates low refusal rates among primary care health workers, although in some cases health care providers collect their numbers in a way that makes them difficult to estimate.
Refusal rates among health workers in some Southern California counties have received a lot of attention in recent weeks. The director of the Orange County health department said about 30 percent of health care workers in that county had so far refused the vaccine. An estimated 50 percent of Riverside County’s health workers were in decline.
Since health professionals are most at risk from COVID-19 and have the highest priority when it comes to vaccination, refusal of those rates could imply mistrust of the vaccine. But San Diego County health experts warned that denial data is often more complex than it appears. The numbers could be blown up by staff who have postponed the vaccine instead of outright denying it, or by workers who have received a vaccination elsewhere.
In some cases, health professionals are delaying the vaccine because they have already had COVID-19.
“We don’t have to target people who are already immune in theory. So our policy, along with the CDC, is that you can postpone those people for 90 days, ”says Dr. Christian Ramers, Assistant Medical Director of Family Health Centers in San Diego.
Among those who hesitate, there is a spectrum. A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that 15 percent of health professionals were in the most skeptical category and said they “definitely wouldn’t” get the vaccine.
“Hesitation as a whole is not one thing. It’s not an anti-vax thing, ”said Dr. Ramers.
Ramers said that in his own clinic, virtually none of the primary care health workers who interacted with patients refused the vaccine. He said the number of refusals among back office workers and those who worked from home increased.
Some women expressed concern about the vaccine because they were pregnant or were thinking of getting pregnant, said Dr. Ramers. Pregnant women were not explicitly enrolled in the Moderna or Pfizer studies, although a few participants became pregnant during the study.
Ramers said that after discussing the risks and benefits of the vaccine with the staff on an individual basis, many pregnant women chose to receive the injection.
ABC 10News surveyed some of the largest healthcare providers in San Diego County.
Some providers, such as Sharp Healthcare, said they don’t keep track of the number of outright denials. As of this week, Sharp said 75 percent of its health workers have been vaccinated. Sharp vaccinated 16,200 workers out of 19,000 employees and 2,700 affiliated doctors.
Scripps Health said it had vaccinated 67 percent of its employees so far, or 14,449 of its 21,559 staff and employees. The other 33 percent had not yet responded.
“A non-response can mean a number of different things, such as getting the vaccine from elsewhere, wanting more information, waiting longer, or being pregnant,” said Stephen Carpowich, Scripps public relations manager.
UC San Diego Health said that of the approximately 13,000 health professionals who offered the vaccine, 72 percent had received an initial dose. Only four percent had declined. Another 6 percent were delayed for a variety of reasons, including vacation or pregnancy.
The remaining 18 percent were scheduled for vaccination or had not yet responded.
Health experts suspect the decline in numbers among San Diego County health workers is low.
“That’s an acceptance rate of 95.98 percent of the initial health professionals offering the vaccine,” said Dr. Ramers. “And we are the ones seeing these patients and we know how bad this disease can be.”
He said anyone who is reluctant to get the vaccine should talk to their doctor about their individual risk factors.